Touched
by WakeFlames
Summary: From Nathan's POV, beginning where he finds out he can feel Audrey's touch. One-shots looking at the defining moments of their relationship from Nathan's view. Fluff and funtimes.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I own nothing. I just like writing about the adorable Nathan and Audrey._

* * *

When Audrey Parker kissed Nathan Wuornos on the cheek, it took him a moment to realize that he had felt her touch.

He was wrapped up in his thoughts, of Jess leaving, of his own self-doubt, and a swirl of other confusing emotions which included embarrassment but didn't end there. He listened to Audrey's words about being his friend, and he searched for something to say. He remembered wanting to hug her, but resisting. The sensation of her lips, warm on his cheek, was so unexpected that it took an instant to register what had just happened.

When it hit him, his breath caught, and his hand flew up to his cheek where her touch had left it tingling. When he looked, he found she had missed his reaction completely, having turned away to walk around to the passenger door of the Bronco. His heart was racing, and all he could think was how good it had felt, how shockingly sensual. _But how?_ He couldn't think straight. She was in the truck now, waiting, and if he stood there staring any longer, she would definitely notice. He took a breath and tried to steady himself before climbing in beside her.

It was a quiet drive back. He didn't quite trust his voice yet, and he avoided looking at her. She didn't seem to mind, and sat staring out the window lost in her own thoughts. When they got into town he finally cleared his throat as nonchalantly as he could. "Want me to drop you at the Gull?"

She shook out of her reverie. "Hmm? Oh, sure. Thanks." She smiled at him.

He looked away quickly, gluing his eyes to the road ahead. He was suddenly feeling breathless again. He needed to be alone and think.

After what seemed like the longest two-minute drive he had ever made, they pulled up outside the Gull. Audrey immediately hopped out, giving a tired sigh. He made himself look at her, made himself wave back as she said goodnight. "See you tomorrow, Nathan." Her smile was weary, but her eyes were warm. All he could manage was a nod back before she turned and headed up to her apartment.

He pulled out of the drive, his head still spinning. He just wanted to sit and think, and maybe something would make sense. When he finally got home, he deliberately went through his routine, removing his boots, hanging up his coat, and placing his gun and badge in the drawer by his bed.

He was suddenly very thirsty. He went to the kitchen to gulp down a glass of water, but it didn't seem to help. He closed his eyes, standing with his fingertips resting on the counter, wondering if he could have imagined the whole thing. But that sensation had been so achingly, wonderfully real.

He rubbed his eyes, an instinctive movement, though he can't feel his hand against his face. He never could seem to shake the habitual gestures from when he could feel, though they didn't serve a purpose now—other than reminding him about his Trouble.

It occurred to him that he was supposed to be moping over the loss of Jess in his life. He had expected to spend the evening over a glass of whiskey, maybe. He missed her now, but the pang of it was gone completely. He realized that he probably had never truly believed it would work between them. He'd been so worried and embarrassed about how his Trouble would affect her, and them.

He noticed that he had been standing in the same place for a while now. He looked around his kitchen, thinking he should probably eat, since he hadn't had much since breakfast. But he didn't feel hungry at all. He just wanted to clear his head, somehow. He opted for a shower and bed. When he ran the water he knew it was probably too hot, but didn't really care. He liked the steam. Even though he couldn't feel the stream of water, he noticed his breathing loosen in the moist air.

Later, as he lay staring up at the ceiling, he wondered if he would sleep at all tonight. He closed his eyes, remembering exactly how her lips felt on his skin. _Soft, and so warm_. When he finally did drift off, he was cupping the cheek she had kissed in his hand.


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: Still don't own any of it._

* * *

Over the next few days, Nathan found himself making excuses to touch her skin again. At first he wanted to know if it had just been a fluke. It was nearly as surprising as the first time, because he almost had convinced himself by then that it couldn't have happened. But the brush of her fingertips as she handed him his coffee mug was very real. He hid his reaction better that time, but still spilled a little coffee.

"Ooh, sorry. Give it a minute," she told him. She had taken to testing his coffee temperature, after she had witnessed, not for the first time, his reddened lips after he misjudged it himself. He had never let anyone help him like that before. But Audrey seemed to get away with a lot of things around him that no on else did.

He was amazed that somehow they had never touched each other until now. He shook his head, remembering how they had met, when he snatched her out of the rental car that she had almost driven off a cliff on her first day in Haven. Somehow a formal introduction, and a handshake, had never come into it. And between then and now, touching just wasn't part of the job. They were both professional and private enough not to invade each other's space. She had always tested his coffee while it sat on his desk, he realized. Something had made him pick it up and hand it to her first, today.

The next time it was accidental. Or at least, he told himself it was. They had both reached for the newspaper on his desk at once, and his hand fell across the back of hers. Her skin was ever so soft under his fingertips. She snatched the paper with a ruthless grin and told him to wait his turn. He let his breath out slowly as he retrieved his tingling hand.

After that, he found himself missing touch even more than before. Every passing brush of her hand sent a shiver through his whole body. He didn't know what to think. For a while he tried to be careful, because he thought he was probably turning into a creeper. But Audrey was more easygoing with him now, too. All her talk of their friendship was true.

One day when she held up a hand to high five him he responded instinctively. He was glad she kept walking and missed his shocked expression. He stared at his stinging hand, reveling in the ringing sensation of it.

He wondered for the umpteenth time whether he should have told her as soon as he found out. But it was still too confusing. He didn't want her to think that he was using her for her touch. _But isn__'t that exactly what I'm doing?_ The thought worried him. He knew he had liked Audrey before. This was just—a new part of it. _What did it all mean?_


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: Not mine._

* * *

Nathan was reeling from the events of the past days. Discovering that he had a birth father and subsequently losing both him and the father who raised him was reason enough to be in turmoil. But he had also learned that the Chief—_Dad_—had been Troubled, too. He'd had to pick up the pieces of his own father, turned to stone and shattered. He was overwhelmed by it all. Hardly a moment had passed before he found the Rev in his father's office, ready to take over the town. Nathan was angry, sad, confused, and exhausted from trying to sort it all out. Audrey had tried to comfort him, but he had pushed her away. Now he felt ashamed of that, too.

He didn't know where she had gone, but he had a guess. He decided to go find her. Sure enough she was pacing the beach, on the spot where the photo of Lucy had been taken all those years ago. He parked his truck and walked out to meet her.

"Audrey," he called as he approached. She turned and looked up from her feet. "I knew I'd find you here." He searched for the words to say all the things that had been rolling around in his brain on the drive over. It was suddenly much harder than he had planned.

She looked down at her feet again. "I'm surprised you wanted to find me anywhere." Her voice caught a little, and he felt a twinge of guilt.

"Audrey, I just—"

She interrupted him. "No, it's—it's okay Nathan."

"I just found the Rev, in my father's office, measuring for drapes."

Her eyes narrowed. "He wants to be Chief?"

"He wants to control whoever is." Her brow was creased with concern. "The last thing Haven needs is the Rev and his self-righteous poison running things." He paused, struggling with what he wanted to say next. "I don't know what is happening." He pulled his father's Chief badge out of his pocket and looked down at it as he spoke. "My dad was holding it all together."

Audrey took a step toward him. "That's your job now." When he looked up her gaze was intent, and so sure of him.

He made himself speak before he talked himself out of it again. "I'm sorry I shut you out."

"Nathan, I'm sorry too, I—" She looked down again, then looked him straight in the eyes. "You're the one person that I can absolutely trust." He didn't know what to say, but he made himself keep his eyes on her face.

"And if you're gonna wear this," she continued, "then we need to be honest with each other—" He stepped back involuntarily as she took his hand in hers, the warmth and pressure taking him completely by surprise. She noticed immediately. "What's wrong?"

He looked at her, his mouth open, not sure what he could possibly say. He saw recognition in her eyes. "You felt that."

"Yeah." He was breathless again. "I can feel you."

She stared at him. "How long have you known?"

He couldn't keep the ghost of a smile from coming to his lips as he remembered that kiss on his cheek, oh so vividly. "A while," he finally said. At once he felt embarrassed again. For not being able to feel, he'd gone through a lot of emotions today. He looked at her hands still holding his. "I… I wasn't sure what to think about it, for a long time. I—" At a loss, he took a deep breath.

"Hey." She gave his hand a squeeze, before dropping it and shifting back on her feet. "That thing… the thing that I—that I was trying to tell you." Her face had gone a bit pale. "I think it might have something to do with all that." She looked out along the beach, but her eyes were far away. "I might be part of it."

He suddenly had the urge to smooth the crease from her forehead with his thumb. _Nathan, focus_. "Part of what?"

"I found out something about Lucy." She finally looked at him again, her eyes moist. "And it's really—" She paused, rubbing her nose. "It's really hard to believe."

She was holding back tears and he just wanted to wrap his arms around her, but he knew he should let her finish. He racked his brain, wondering what she meant. "She's not your mother," he guessed.

"It's way weirder than that." She sniffed again. He waited.

"I am Lucy." She looked shocked, like she hadn't said it out loud before.

Audrey was Lucy? But how? It was his turn to look at his feet. "That's…"

"Don't." She stopped him mid-thought, her face serious. "Don't say that's impossible, because whatever this is, it's possible."

He didn't have anything to say to that, so he just nodded. He was just convincing himself that he should actually hug her when a voice interrupted them.

"Excuse me. Audrey Parker?"

That was when things got thrown upside down, yet again. That was when the other Audrey appeared.


	4. Chapter 4

_I thought this one was done, but the ideas kept coming. I think I might end up making my way through all the __"important moments" (wink wink) from Nathan's POV. This one is set post 2x05, "Roots."_

_Disclaimer: Nobody and none of it belongs to me._

* * *

If Nathan was truly honest, he had been attracted to Audrey Parker from the beginning. But he had never been good at admitting to his own feelings. It was fitting, he thought ruefully, that his Trouble took away his ability to physically feel. He was learning a hard lesson about _feeling_ without the sense of touch.

Vince and Dave were far too nosy for their own good. They always had been, but Nathan had never quite experienced the full effect of their attentions before today. _You__'d better go get her before it's too late_, they had told him. He had scoffed at them, pretending indifference. But after seeing the knowing look that passed between them, he knew his face probably hadn't been as convincingly unperturbed as he intended. He had likely confirmed their analysis of his feelings toward Audrey by his hero-to-the-rescue antics that followed.

Now he was kicking himself for his botched plan. He didn't know how he had expected it to fall out. All he knew was that he prodding of those busybody Teague brothers had tipped the balance and set off an avalanche of hopes, fears, and strange longings that he still could not put into words. He had been so proud to finally hack his way to Audrey's rescue, and so stunned when she had not needed rescuing. He had watched Audrey and Chris walk out of the vine-wrapped barn hand in hand. Thinking about it, his stomach still twisted in a funny way.

He didn't want to think about where they were now. He had felt like the awkward third—seventh?—wheel trudging out of the barn behind the little train of couples. After getting a full account from everyone and sorting out the story for the Herald, Audrey and Chris had left together, still looking at each other in that way that made Nathan's insides churn. To make it worse the Teagues were annoyingly sympathetic the entire drive back, fussing over him like mother hens. He had a headache by the end of it, which he had learned probably meant he had been clenching his jaw the whole time.

After noticing he had been staring into space over his paper-strewn desk for nearly half an hour, he decided to leave the office. Without thinking, he found himself driving up to the cliffs on the edge of town. He parked at one of the lookout points and made his way out to one of the benches there.

The sun was low in the sky, and the patches of cloud were tinged with pink and orange. The water shimmered. Haven was picturesque, with white, gray and brick buildings contrasting against the dark greens and long shadows. Nathan sighed, thinking how Haven was irrevocably different because of Audrey Parker. He couldn't even look at his hometown without thinking of her, now. She had made her way into the heart of the town and its people. _Into his heart_.

It was a notion that excited him and scared him all at once. Somewhere in the process of trying to rescue her today, he had thought about telling her. He wasn't sure exactly what he would have said. But now it didn't matter, because she had gone off with Chris.

He sighed again, looking out over the bay. He could just see the light coming from the windows of the Gull at the edge of the water. He shut his eyes, trying to shut out any further thought of what might be happening in that upstairs apartment. Failing miserably, he abruptly got up to head for home, and a good strong drink.


	5. Chapter 5

_Just a short one—sorry it__'s out of order. I didn't forget about that important Chameleon episode. I wasn't sure how to write about it for a while, but here goes._

_Disclaimer: Belongs to me? No, none of it._

* * *

The volume of panic and grief that welled up in him was a surprise. He stared down at the chameleon that had been so very, very much like Audrey. That _thing_ was gasping now, dying from the bullet hole he had put it in its chest. Its face was contorted, moving beneath the skin in a way that made his stomach churn.

"_You killed my friend_." As soon as the words left his mouth, Nathan knew the word "friend" was insufficient. It was the same reason he had kissed the faux-Audrey, when he had already confirmed he couldn't feel her touch by grabbing her hands. He had wanted to be absolutely certain that it wasn't Audrey before he shot her. Or it.

He needed to think about that more, but now the chameleon was saying something about asking Audrey for help.

"…she was supposed to die." The chameleon's words hung in the air for a moment before he comprehended them. Nathan's breath caught, and his heart made a funny leap in his chest.

"She's still alive? _Where is she?!_" He demanded.

The next few minutes were a blur. He heard himself saying Audrey's name over and over as they rushed to the cellar, broke down the door, spotted the old trunk shoved against the wall. His heart was pounding hard in his chest. It nearly stopped at the sight of her, crumpled and pale, as they opened the trunk. He caught up her hands in his and the sensation rushed through him like wildfire. He felt a weak pulse under his fingertips on her wrist.

They propped her up, and he cupped her cheek, still calling her name. He held on to her hands as Julia waved the makeshift smelling salts—ammonia found in the chameleon's house—under Audrey's nose. He didn't care what any of them might think of him at that moment, or that Duke was helping hold her up, too.

When Audrey's eyes finally opened, so blue and bright, the relief that washed over him was overwhelming. He let out a breath, nearly a sob, that he hadn't realized he was holding.

Her mouth parted, finding her voice. "Crying will not be tolerated," she croaked out.

Everyone gave a halfhearted laugh at that, the ever indomitable spirit of Audrey. Nathan only gripped her hands tighter. He couldn't tell if he wanted to laugh, cry, or both.

If there were tears on his cheeks, he didn't try to wipe them away. That would have meant letting go of Audrey.


	6. Chapter 6

_Begins at the end of 2x06, __"Audrey Parker's Day Off." I took a tiny liberty: I sent Chris away in the scene instead of back into the bar._

_Disclaimer: Nope. I don__'t own it._

* * *

"You could never fail me."

The words were out of him before he had time to think about them, and for a split second he was terrified that he had said too much. But Audrey just looked back at him, her eyes searching his. Her expression softened, and she looked about to say something before a sound at the doorway to the Gull caught her attention. Her face closed up again as she glanced over to find Chris Brody standing there. Feeling embarrassed, Nathan shoved his hands further in his pockets and turned away to go inside.

He averted his eyes as he passed Chris. The last thing he wanted right now was to be fawning over the man that seemed to be holding Audrey's attentions. Duke, however, was leaning at the bar facing Chris' retreating back with an adoring look on his face.

"Love that Chris!" Duke said wistfully. "What a guy." Nathan suppressed a grin and told himself not to gloat. When Duke finally looked at him, he must have seen the look on his face, because he was immediately suspicious. "What?"

"Chris is troubled," he told him. Duke looked confused. "You don't look at him, you don't get all… man crush."

Duke scoffed, looking back in Chris' direction. "No—"

Nathan reached out a finger and aimed Duke's face back toward the bar.

The realization finally hit Duke. "Aww…" He put a hand to his forehead, looking pained.

"Mmm."

"Now you tell me?!"

"Hey, no judgements, he's a handsome guy." He couldn't resist the jibe.

"Yeah, shut up." Nathan just grinned at him, looking around for a bartender. He couldn't enjoy Duke's embarrassment too much, because he'd been fawning over Chris in much the same way earlier. He'd only been lucky that Audrey told him why first.

_Audrey_. He would be averting his eyes anyway from the conversation happening right now between her and Chris out on the deck. He tried to ignore the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach as he thought about it, and forced his attention back to the bar.

After half a beer and a more in-depth explanation to Duke of Chris Brody's effect on people, he was surprised when Audrey plopped her compact self on a barstool next to him. He looked up, noticing Chris wasn't with her. He glanced around the bar but Chris was gone. He looked back over at Audrey, who was ordering a drink from the bartender. She didn't look at him. Was she avoiding his eyes?

Duke was still carrying on about Chris. "…It's probably been hundreds of dollars of free stuff! I gave him some of my best cases of wine—ugh." He shook his head for the fiftieth time or so.

The woman working the bar was grinning at Duke. "You nearly gave him your scotch collection, but he was getting annoyed at all the gifts by then."

Duke swore. "Speaking of scotch, I could use a stronger drink right now." He climbed off his stool, heading for the kitchen, still swearing under his breath. The bartender laughed, heading down the bar to help some other customers.

Nathan was suddenly very aware of the short distance between Audrey and himself. Their elbows were only about an inch apart. She hadn't said a word since ordering her drink, which she was now staring into fixedly. He fumbled for something to break the silence. "You alright?" He finally asked.

"I'm fine." She still didn't look at him.

He bit back the questions he really wanted to ask. _Where__'s Chris? And why aren't you with him? _He stared deliberately at his hands on the bar._ It__'s none of your business, Nathan._

Audrey gave a sigh, causing him to look at her again. She leaned forward, putting her chin in her hands. A stray lock of hair fell forward on her cheek, and he repressed the sudden urge to tuck it behind her ear.

"I need some sleep," she said, sitting up. "This day has been… really long." She finally turned to look at him. Her eyes were just a little too bright. He opened his mouth slightly, wanting to say something, anything to make the ache he saw behind her eyes go away.

Before he found words, she slid off her stool and turned away. "'Night, Nathan."

Feeling like he had missed something important, he managed to call "goodnight" before she slipped out the door and was gone.

He sat there for a while, thinking, before paying the bartender—he tipped her extra, remembering with a smile how she had teased Duke—and heading out to his truck. Hopefully Audrey would tell him what was going on, when she was ready.

—

Nathan was in the office early the next day when he got the call from Laverne at dispatch.

"Nathan, hun, you there?" Laverne's gravelly voice cut through the quiet of the morning.

He grabbed his radio off the desk. "Morning Laverne—what's up?"

"Thought you'd be in already. Body on the beach."

"Right, thanks." Nathan stood, hooking his radio on his belt.

Her voice crackled through again. "Call Audrey, would you? I gotta get on the phone with the harbor patrol before they blow a gasket."

"Sure," he heard himself say, though he felt inexplicably nervous. _Don__'t be stupid, Nathan. You call her all the time. _He shrugged on his coat, pulling out his cell phone as he loped out the door.

Her phone rang a few times, but a sleepy voice soon answered. "Nathan?"

"Body washed up on the beach this morning." He wondered if she was still in bed. Which made him wonder what she wore to bed. Shaking himself to dispel the image that had popped into his head of Audrey wearing only her underwear, he said evenly, "Meet me there in fifteen?"

He heard a rustle, and a thud. "Make it twenty." He couldn't help but smile as she clicked off.

At the beach, Nathan chatted briefly with the ME until his partner arrived. Audrey looked a bit worse for wear but her voice was clear when she greeted him. They followed Dr. Lucassi down to examine the body.

Things were comfortingly normal between them all day. Nathan pushed aside the pile of questions that had been swirling around his brain and focused on work. Audrey was focused, too. Though she was always like that.

They were kept busy over the course of the next 24 hours, discovering what was really going on with the Glendowers, and dealing with the Rev and his manipulation of Mary, who ended up kidnapping the Glendower boys and nearly killing them all.

But all Nathan's conflicting thoughts came flooding back at the end of the following day, on the beach near the Glendower homestead. Audrey sat down next to him on the rocks, and they watched the group of black-cloaked Glendower men slowly walking out into the ocean. It was beautiful, in a way. He said as much to Audrey.

"But it's so sad. They don't even know how long they'll be gone." She sighed. "A whole family, just split in two." Nathan felt for her, knowing that the notion of a divided family was a hard one, not least of all because of her own memories of growing up as an orphan. He looked across at her face, lit softly by the muted glow of the foggy evening, a frown crinkled between her brows. He wanted to smooth it away, to reassure her that not all families were divided. But his own family wasn't much of an example. At least the Glendowers had each other, even if they had to be apart for a time.

"United by secrets." He wished that his father had told them more about all of this: the Troubles, Lucy, and not least of all his own origins. "I wanted to learn more about the Chief. There's so much he didn't tell me—I didn't even know the right questions to ask."

The frown on Audrey's face eased a little, replaced with a pensive look. "Gwen also told me that your father and Lucy helped a lot of Troubled people." She paused, gazing out at the figures disappearing under the water. "It looks like we've been following in their footsteps without even knowing it."

It was a strange thought, that he was somehow walking in his father's footsteps. He wished for the thousandth time that he had talked to his father more. The Chief had kept things hidden from him for so long. Too long.

It was a bitter grief with which Nathan mourned his father, because he knew his own part in those secrets staying buried. He had been too stubborn and proud to put aside his hurt from the years of harsh distance. To a child who had lost his mother, the aloofness of his father had seemed cruel and too hard to forgive. Knowing that so much more had been going on behind that mask of his father was scant comfort now. The hurt child in Nathan had won out until the end, and his change of heart had been too little, far too late. His father had taken most of the secrets with him to the grave.

The last of the silhouetted figures was just sinking beneath the ocean's surface. Nathan sighed, wondering what other surprises they would encounter that his father could have explained. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Audrey shiver, and realized it was probably getting cold. Looking down at his hands he saw his fingertips were tinged purple.

He took off his jacket and handed it to her. She gave him a grateful look, and shrugged it around her shoulders.

"Come on. Let's go." He held out a hand to help her off the boulder where she was perched.

She grabbed his hand, the coolness of her skin pressing against his. Even expecting the sensation, he was flooded with the rush of relief and warmth that came with her touch each time. He closed his eyes just a moment, reveling in the feeling, allowing himself to enjoy it. Not for the first time he wondered if Audrey knew how much he missed human contact, and how much he treasured each little touch from her.

When his eyes opened a second later, he realized that she might know now, because he caught her looking up at him with a curious look on her face. Embarrassed, he tried to pull away his hand, but she held on. Saying nothing, she started walking up the beach toward where they had parked the Bronco, pulling him along. He followed meekly, staring straight ahead, his hand alive with sensation.

What had only been a minute or so walk seemed like an eternity—a pleasant one, though. Nathan's mind was a whirl. Finally they reached the truck, and Audrey squeezed his hand before letting go and walking around to the passenger door. Distracted and more than a little breathless, Nathan swallowed and focused on digging for his keys.

Neither of them said anything on the drive back. Nathan stole a glance at Audrey now and then, but she only gazed out the window at the darkening evening. Once, he could have sworn he caught a tiny smile playing at the corner of her lips, but it was gone before he was sure.

That night, Nathan dreamed he was walking along an infinitely long beach, and he could feel the sand between his toes. Audrey Parker walked next to him, her warm fingers twined in his.


End file.
